Sleepless Night
by Joe's girl
Summary: Post Season 4 TM fluff. One chapter only. Please read and review.


_Just a quick post Season 4 fluff that I thought up. Not as good as some of my other stuff, but the concept made me laugh so I decided to write it. Hope you'll take a couple minutes and read. Let me know what you think._

_The usual disclaimers apply. I don't own a thing, it all belongs to Fox. _

Sleepless Night

Tony sat in bed. He had a book open on his lap, the latest Vince Flynn novel, but he wasn't really concentrating on it. He was far more interested in listening to Michelle getting ready for bed. Currently she was in the bathroom doing whatever it was that took her at least 45 minutes every night. What could possibly take that long? What does she do in there? Whatever it was, it resulted in her having the silkiest skin and the softest hair he had ever felt. And the smell! She ended up with the most perfect smell. It wasn't overwhelming. It was soft and fresh, not perfumey or soapy. There was a hint of citrus. He loved to bury his nose in the crook of her neck just above her shoulder and revel in that scent. He wished he could figure out where the smell came from. He had opened the tops of all of her lotions and cosmetics and couldn't find anything that smelled like it.

He sat pondering the origin of the scent when Michelle exited the bathroom and made her way toward the bed. She was dressed in one of his old Cubs jerseys with her hair pulled into a loose ponytail at the nape of her neck. Not exactly sexy stuff, but Tony had been away on business for the last three days and, frankly, he didn't care if she was wearing a burlap sack and had her hair in beer can rollers, she still would have turned him on.

"Very pretty," he said in a low, testosterone laden growl.

"It's a Cubs jersey, Tony. It's not lingerie," Michelle said smiling and rolling her eyes at him as she turned off the light. Michelle wasn't even in bed yet; she was only sitting on the edge but he was already aroused. That was another issue he had pondered at length. What was it about Michelle that so easily aroused him? The answer to that was no more obvious than the question about her citrus scent but it was a little more understandable. For starters, he was a heterosexual male and she was a soft, curvy woman. In general, putting a woman, any woman, in bed with him was going to arouse him to some extent. Add to that the fact that she had a great body and that incredible smell and her hair was unbelievably soft and curly, not to mention that she knew all of the right things to say and do to him and it all led to the bed sheet creating a tent over his hips and pelvis as it was right now.

Tony had already set his sights on a long night of love. Tomorrow was Saturday and neither of them had to get up early. He had gotten home from the airport around 8 o'clock and they ate a late dinner. As they cleaned up the kitchen, Tony had gotten the foreplay started by coming up behind Michelle and pressing close to her. He ran his hands seductively up and down her sides and allowed them to linger on the sides of her breasts. Michelle was playing a little hard to get but he was sure she would be in the mood once she got in bed.

"I missed you," Tony whispered as he moved closer to Michelle.

"I can tell," she said with a hint of amusement in her voice.

Tony started nibbling at the crook of her neck and taking in the wonderful smell.

"Tony, it's late," Michelle said gently. "It's almost 1 o'clock."

"Do you have someplace to go in the morning?" he asked as he kissed her lips.

She returned the kiss. "No, not really, but I just hate to get started this late. Can't it wait until tomorrow night?"

"Didn't you miss me?" Tony asked like a disappointed child.

"Of course I missed you. It's just that it's late and I'm tired. Tomorrow night we can get in bed earlier."

Tony would not be discouraged. "I'll do all of the work if you're tired. Just lie back and enjoy. I'll be your love slave. How would that be?" He didn't give her a chance to answer before her pressed a passionate, tongue-filled kiss to her mouth. Michelle tried to protest but she eventually gave in. Her mouth opened and her body relaxed in his arms. As he moved his mouth back down to her neck, he heard her groan. Worked like a charm, he thought. Soon he had stripped her of her jersey and pinned her to the bed so he could kiss every inch of her. Lots of foreplay, he thought, just the way she likes it.

A bit like a lion stalking his prey, Tony finally decided that it was time to move in for the kill. Without breaking the kiss they were currently engaged in, Tony climbed on top of Michelle and slowly let his weight settle on her. He felt her legs separate and he started to position himself for the best angle of entry. Much like a Navy pilot landing his plane on the deck of an aircraft carrier, this was a much practiced move. Just as Tony was about to make his move, he felt Michelle tense beneath him. She pulled away from his kiss and put her hands on his shoulders to push him away.

"Did you hear that?" she asked quietly.

"Hear what?" Tony asked trying to reposition himself since Michelle had moved.

"There it is. I heard it again. Did you hear it this time?" she asked.

"No, I didn't, but I'm sure it was just the Rose of Sharon bush outside the window. It always brushes the window when there's a breeze. Remind me to trim it tomorrow," Tony said anxiously, afraid that the moment was about to be ruined.

"Tony, listen!" Michelle told him. "It is not the Rose of Sharon." She wriggled out from under him and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. It only took a second to step into the bikini panties that Tony had so carefully peeled off of her just minutes earlier. Then she found the Cubs jersey and pulled it over her head. With that she was off to investigate the disturbance.

"Michelle, where are you going? Come back. Can't we just finish first?" he begged as he watched Michelle leave the room.

A very disappointed Tony rolled over and let his head drop hard onto the pillow. She's trying to kill me, he thought. He stared into the darkness unable to believe what just happened. He was just a couple of minutes away from having an orgasm that would probably register on the Richter scale and, poof, Michelle was gone. Now he lay on his back, his penis lying limp and dejected between his legs. His brother told him there would be nights like this, but he refused to believe him. He told Luis that Michelle would never do that to him and Luis laughed and bet him a beer that she would do it at least once in the first year. Tony reminded himself to call Luis in the morning. Maybe they could go to a bar tomorrow night so Tony could pay up.

xxxXXXxxx

Michelle entered the room down the hall and turned on a little light on the dresser that gave the whole room a soft glow.

"What's the matter, Princess," she asked as she leaned over the crib to check on their six month old daughter. Giselle had come as a surprise to Tony and Michelle, not a totally unwelcome surprise, mind you, but a surprise none the less.

Just hours after their reconciliation, Tony and Michelle left CTU together with a whole lot of friends and coworkers watching as they held hands on the way to the exit. They picked up coffee and breakfast sandwiches at a deli not far from Michelle's house. Then ate the sandwiches at her kitchen table and discussed their future. The discussion lasted until early evening when both of them were too tired to talk any more but they came to several decisions.

First of all, they were going to take it slow. Tony would move out of Jen's house and back in with his parents. Michelle would stay with CTU while Tony looked for a job. Once he found a job that they agreed upon, Michelle would find a job in the same area and resign from CTU. They also agreed that they needed marriage counseling and would look for a counselor the next day. Finally, to keep things simple, they would not get physically involved until they were sure that the relationship was ready for it. They sealed the agreement with a kiss and, too tired to go anywhere, Tony slept in Michelle's guest room that night.

The plan was in motion. Tony's break up with Jen went about as well as could be expected considering that he told her that he was moving out to restart his relationship with his ex-wife. He successfully dodged both the pitcher and the coffee pot that she threw at him before he drew his gun and told her to back off. She pretty much settled down after that. He packed quickly with the help of his two brothers and headed for his parents house. Unlike most parents whose nearly forty year old son just moved back in the house, Tony's parents were thrilled to have him. They were just happy to see him sober again. For the last several months every time they saw him or talked to him, he was clearly intoxicated. They wished that they could help him, and tried repeatedly to do so, but to no avail. So having Tony sober and back in the nest again was just fine with them.

Once he was settled in with his parents, Tony scoured the internet for jobs and started sending résumés to everyone who had a position that he was even remotely qualified for. He and Michelle had discussed it and decided that instead of trying to hide the fact that he had been charged with treason and spent time in prison prior to receiving a pardon, he would include that information along with an explanation as part of the cover letter. There was no point in trying to run from what he had done. He wasn't ashamed of it. Quite the opposite, he was proud of the fact that he saved Michelle's life. He was only sorry that the government had found the need to call his act treasonous and press charges against him. He decided that some of his potential employers would be scared away, but others would respect him for telling the truth. He also included a letter of commendation written by Secretary Heller. While he was looking for a job, Tony took a part time position as a bartender at a nearby restaurant. His parents and Michelle were skeptical when he took the job. None of them wanted to see him start drinking again, but Tony insisted. He needed to prove that his temporary dependence on alcohol did not make him an alcoholic and that he could be around alcohol without feeling the need to get drunk. After the first few anxious days for family and friends, everyone began to relax when Tony came home from work sober night after night.

As agreed, Tony and Michelle started seeing a marriage counselor. When they really looked hard at their relationship, they realized that, although neither of them wanted to admit it at the time, their relationship had been problematic from the start. It was something that others had known from the beginning and tried to warn them about, but the couple was unwilling to listen. It was clear to everyone that they loved each other, but good marriages are built on more than love. Their days at CTU were long and filled with stress which came home with them every night and led to countless arguments. The arguments were always followed later by apologies and passionate lovemaking. Despite their ability to "forgive and forget" the constant cycle of arguments was wearing their marriage down. By their second anniversary Michelle had started to wonder how much longer it could last. They loved each other so much, but marriage was far more difficult than either of them could have imagined. Just before Tony was arrested he had planned to take a job at CIA headquarters in Virginia. Michelle remembered telling him that she would move anywhere with him and she meant it. She hoped that the move out of LA would somehow magically make their relationship better because she didn't know how she would ever live without him, but living with him wasn't working out all that well.

With the help of the marriage counselor, they soon found that their relationship was working much better the second time around and, unlike the first time, they had been able to keep sex out of it. Tony was working at the bar most evenings anyway, so that kept them apart at night. Three mornings a week he picked Michelle up at 6 o'clock and they went running together in a nearby park. After the run they would walk to a coffee shop a couple of blocks away and talk before Michelle had to go to work. They were both amazed at what they were learning about each other, something they hadn't taken the time to do before.

Six weeks after starting the job hunt Tony was rewarded with his first job offer. It was with a group of security consultants. He was ecstatic. Of all the jobs he had applied for, this was the one he wanted most. And to top it off, the office he would work out of was in Santa Barbara. Michelle loved Santa Barbara. It wasn't too far from LA, but it allowed them to have a little space from their families (who had managed to butt in more than necessary during their first marriage). He couldn't wait to tell Michelle and he called her at CTU with the news. She was as excited as he. While she was talking to Tony on the phone, she had already started checking the internet for jobs in Santa Barbara. Everything was going perfectly. Tony suggested that they celebrate by going to dinner. Michelle thought it was a wonderful idea. So good, in fact, that she left work early that Friday afternoon to get ready.

Tony arrived at her door at 7 o'clock as planned. He was wearing a dark blue suit and carrying a bouquet of roses. Michelle jumped into his arms as he stepped through the door. Their kiss was long and intense and despite their good intentions to keep the relationship from becoming physical, the floor was soon strewn with hastily discarded clothing and Tony and Michelle were making slow, tender, passionate love. They made love all night, finally falling asleep as the sun rose. By the time they awoke the next afternoon they both knew they should regret what they had done but, in fact, neither of them was sorry.

The next few weeks were busy for the two of them. Tony made arrangements to move to Santa Barbara and Michelle started looking for a job. She would move with him once she had one. They were both ready to remarry, in spite of their marriage counselor's advise to wait at least another six months.

Tony came to pick up Michelle for their last morning run before he had to move to Santa Barbara. He would only be about an hour and a half away, but he felt like he was moving to Siberia and couldn't wait until Michelle could come with him. Tony knew something was wrong as soon as Michelle opened the door. She wasn't dressed for running, in fact she looked like she had just crawled out of bed. Her cheeks were pale and her eyes were wide a bit like a deer caught in headlights.

"Sweetheart, what's wrong?" he asked fearing the answer. "Are you okay? You look like you're sick."

He watched as her eyes filled with tears. "Oh, Tony! I'm so sorry. It was an accident. I swear, I didn't plan it like this."

"Michelle, what are you talking about? Calm down, Honey. I'm here. Tell me what's wrong." He put an arm around her and steered her to the sofa. He could feel her body trembling.

Michelle swallowed hard trying to keep the tears from cascading down her face but it didn't work. "Tony, I'm pregnant!" she said as she sobbed.

"You're pregnant?" he said in a stunned voice. "But we only made love that one night."

"Apparently that was enough. We didn't use any birth control. It never even crossed my mind. What were we thinking, Tony?"

"We weren't thinking, Honey. We just wanted each other," Tony said as he pulled her into his arms and held her. They were both quiet for a few minutes, the silence occasionally punctuated by one of Michelle's sobs. It was Tony who finally spoke.

"Sweetheart, I know this wasn't part of our plans, but the truth is, I'm not really unhappy about it."

"Really?" Michelle asked looking surprised.

"Really," he told her as he smiled and nodded. In fact, he was having trouble controlling the smile. It was getting so wide that it was threatening to burst through his lips.

Michelle took one look at his smile and started to laugh. "I was just afraid that you were going to be upset."

"I'm not upset," he told her. "Are you upset?"

"Are you kidding? I'm thrilled!" she laughed. "So what do we do now?"

"How about if you turn in your resignation to CTU and move to Santa Barbara with me."

And they pretty much did just that. Lots of little details needed to be worked out, but they all fell into place and now here Michelle stood looking into the crib and remembering their spur of the moment wedding and resigning from CTU and the move to Santa Barbara. Then there were months of feeling like a beached whale and 12 hours of labor and finally hearing Giselle's first cries. At times it was so happy that is was surreal and times, like now, when Giselle was fussing at 2 o'clock in the morning that Michelle wondered what she had gotten herself into.

Giselle lay in her crib fussing but not really crying. Her face was flushed pink and she kept rubbing her face with her little fists. "What's the matter, Sweetie," Michelle cooed as she picked the baby up.

"Michelle, leave her alone," Tony bellowed from the bedroom. "She's not crying, maybe she'll go back to sleep if you leave her in the crib." He was desperate to get Michelle back in bed.

"Tony, something's wrong," Michelle called to him in a concerned voice.

Tony was sitting on the edge of the bed putting his boxer shorts back on when Michelle came into their room with Giselle. "What it is? What's wrong? Is she okay?" he asked anxiously

"No, she's not. Feel how warm her face is. I think she has a fever." Michelle handed Giselle to Tony. "Hold her while I look for a thermometer."

Tony took the baby from Michelle and held her cheek against his face. "She's burning up, Michelle. Maybe we should call the doctor." Tony suddenly had a severe case of first-time-father-itis, a disease that was always worse in the middle of the night. His tiny daughter was sick and he had no idea how to handle it.

By the time Michelle got back into the room Tony had his cell phone out. "Who are you calling?" she asked.

"The pediatrician. Giselle needs to be seen right away."

"Tony put the phone down. Let me check her temperature first. Hold her head still." Michelle put the ear thermometer in the baby's ear canal and pushed the button. Seconds later she had a digital read out. "Wow, her temp is 101.8 degrees," Michelle said with some concern. "I didn't think it would be that high."

Tony handed Giselle back to her. "Here, hold her while I get dressed."

"Why are you getting dressed?"

"So we can take her to the emergency room."

"Tony," Michelle said calmly to her husband who could track down a nuclear bomb or a deadly virus and hardly break a sweat but was currently freaking out over their child's first minor illness. "I don't think she needs to go to the emergency room right now."

"I don't know, Michelle. You've heard those stories where parents think their kid has a little cold and the next thing they know the kid is in intensive care," he said as he buttoned his shirt wrong and forced his feet into sneakers without any socks.

"Honey, look how she's rubbing her ear against me. I'm sure it's just an ear infection. We'll take her to the doctor in the morning, but I think it's fine to wait until then."

Tony was now fully dressed and hunting frantically for his car keys. "I'll go warm the car up. I don't want to put her in a cold car."

"Tony, we live in Southern California not Chicago. It's not that cold. And besides, we're not taking her anywhere. We can handle this until morning." Michelle stood up and walked out of the room with the fussy baby.

"Come on, Honey," Tony said as he followed her, "I think we should take her to the emergency room"

"No, Tony, she'll be fine," Michelle insisted. She watched as Tony picked up his cell phone.

"Now who are you calling?"

"Olivia."

"You're calling your sister at 2 in the morning? What do you want her to do?"

"She's got four kids. She'll know what to do. If she tells me to take Giselle to the hospital, I'm taking her whether you like it or not!"

"Olivia is going to kill you, Tony," Michelle said suddenly finding the situation humorous.

Michelle took Giselle to the nursery and fought back a case of the giggles while she listened to Tony's end of the conversation.

"Livie, it's Tony," he said. There was a moment of silence. "Yes, I know what time it is. This IS important! Giselle is really sick. I think she needs to go to the hospital but Michelle says I'm over reacting."

Silence again.

"No, she isn't throwing up."

More silence.

"No, I don't think so. Wait I'll ask. Michelle!" he called. "Does Giselle have diarrhea?"

"No, Tony. I just changed a very wet diaper, but no diarrhea," Michelle said as she stripped off Giselle's sweat dampened sleeper and reached for a clean one. She smiled at Giselle. "Your Aunt Olivia is going to eat your daddy for breakfast if he doesn't get off the phone." Her humor was lost on her cranky daughter.

"But her temperature is 102, Olivia. That's dangerous," Tony's exasperated voice carried into the nursery. "And she's doing this funny thing with her head. She keeps trying to rub the side of her face against whoever is holding her."

Again there was silence while Tony listened. "You really think it's just an ear infection? That's what Michelle thinks, too. You don't think it's something more serious like meningitis or encephalitis?" he asked naming every potentially fatal infection that came to mind at that moment.

He listened again. "You should see her, Livie. She looks so uncomfortable. She's sweating and her face is all pink and she keeps rubbing her face with her hands. She's just miserable and she's so helpless. At least if we take her to the hospital they can give her something to make her feel better," Tony said trying to garner some support for his plan to take the baby to the emergency room. "Okay, okay," he said after listening for a moment. "Then what would you do, Mother-of-the-Year?"

Michelle couldn't help but smile. Five minutes ago, when Tony thought Olivia would support his plan she was the perfect mother who would certainly know the right thing to do. Now that she wasn't supporting him, he was tossing out sarcastic little insults.

"Hold on, hold on, you're talking too fast. Let me get something to write with."

Michelle heard Tony rustling through a couple of drawers cursing repeatedly. "Ah, there it is," he said to himself. "Go ahead, Livie, I've got paper and a pen." Tony took notes as his sister gave him instructions. "Okay, got it. Wait slow down. Say that again," Tony said trying to write as quickly as his sister spoke. "Yeah, I think I got all of that. Thanks, sorry I had to wake you up. I'll call you in the morning to let you know how Giselle is."

Tony hung up the phone and made his way into the nursery with a pad of paper in hand. Michelle sat rocking Giselle who, although Tony didn't seem to notice, had settled down considerably. "Olivia doesn't think we need to take her to the emergency room."

"No, that's good?" Michelle said pretending she hadn't already figured that out from the conversation.

"She said it sounds like an ear infection," he said as if Michelle hadn't told him that fifteen minutes ago.

"What did she think we should do?"

"She said to give Giselle some Tylenol to bring her fever down."

"I already did that," Michelle told him.

"Okay, good," Tony said checking off that item on his list of instructions. "Then she said to give her a cool sponge bath and dress her in a lightweight sleeper."

"Did that, too," Michelle said.

"Alright, she said if you give her a pacifier that the sucking might make her ear feel better."

Michelle pointed to the baby's mouth. "Done. She seems to be falling back to sleep. I was going to rock her a little longer and then put her back in her crib."

Tony looked at the baby suddenly realizing that she was much better than she had been just a little while ago and that Michelle had done all of it without any help. "How did you know to do all of that?" he asked suddenly feeling very inadequate as a parent.

Michelle shrugged. "Mother's intuition, I guess."

"I've been a father as long as you've been a mother. Why didn't I know any of that?" Tony asked clearly disappointed at his inability to take care of this child who had been entrusted to him.

"Tony," Michelle said gently understanding how he felt. "Babies don't come with instruction manuals. We just do the best we can and hope that it's right. I did what seemed right and it turned out okay. We learned this time and next time we'll be more prepared."

"I feel so stupid. I'm forty years old and I can't even take care of a fourteen pound baby," he said as he started out of the room.

"Tony, wait," Michelle called after him. She stood and walked into their bedroom and sat on the bed next to Tony who stared at the floor. "Here, why don't you hold her for a while." Tony took his daughter in his arms. Her eyes were closed and she sucked hard on the pacifier. "Tony, you're a wonderful father and Giselle knows how much you love her. She lights up when you come into the room. Just keep doing what you think is best for her and you'll be fine. Now why don't you put her back in her crib and we can get some sleep. I'll set the alarm for an hour or so and we can check on her. Does that seem reasonable?"

"I guess so," he said as he carried Giselle back to the nursery. He laid her in the crib and stood with Michelle as they watched her sleep. He touched her face with the back of his hand. "She feels cooler already."

"I think she'll be fine," Michelle said with a smile realizing that their first parental crisis was over but knowing that there would likely be more to come. "Congratulations, Daddy! I think we've just survived our first sleepless night."

"I guess we did. Let's hope there aren't too many more. I'm not sure I can take it. Terrorists are nothing compared to babies," Tony laughed and put his arm around Michelle's waist as they walked back to their room. "Hey, why don't we try and pick up where we left off."

"Save it, Romeo. Let's try again tomorrow night."

_THE END_


End file.
